Increasing Use of Existing EPA authority

In our May 5th letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson (See Letter to Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator) and the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, the coalition highlights immediate and urgent steps to improve water quality under existing authority.

Among these recommendations, we urge the EPA, District of Columbia, and states to:

• Create an ongoing and independent mechanism for Bay Restoration goals
• Make strategic changes to existing state and federal agricultural programs, both voluntary and regulatory, to achieve Bay clean-up goals; and
• Use existing authorities under the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program to set clear, enforceable stormwater standards for municipalities, and development and redevelopment based on hydrology as well as sediments and nutrients for all stormwater sources, including federal and state facilities and roads.

The development and implementation of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan for the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries offers what may be the last hope for achieving water quality standards and restoring the bay. The development of the baywide TMDL and the subsequent sub-basin plans will be a technical, regulatory and political challenge. Chesapeake Bay advocates must effectively engage in the process at all levels and educate and motivate the public to vigorously support the clean up plans.